Valtteri Bottas, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 driver from Finland has confirmed that he will be entering the Arctic Lapland Rally held as the season-opener of the Finnish Rally Championship in the middle of January next season.
Bottas has taken part in the Arctic Lapland Rally for the past two years. In 2019, Bottas made his rally debut and drove with a M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC car to a fifth place finish. In January this year, the result was a ninth place after struggling on the opening-stage in a Citroen DS3 WRC car.
The confirmation of Bottas entering the rally has gathered a lot of attention on social media and according to the journalist Jarno Saari, Bottas will once again be driving with a WRC car in the rally, but, this time it could be with factory support of either from Hyundai Motorsport or Toyota Gazoo Racing.
“If the rally will go ahead, then I will be at the start line, that is the current plan and hopefully it is arranged.” Bottas told in a interview with the Finnish publication Ilta-Sanomat.
Earlier this year, Kalle Rovanperä, the current Toyota Gazoo Racing factory driver won the inofficial rally in the WRC class, normally this rally attracts several well-known names from all around the wolrd so we could expect a few of the top runners from WRC to join next season as well.
